MRI in Acutely Ill Medical Patients in an Irish Hospital: Influence on Outcomes and Length of Hospital Stay

Purpose MRI is an important diagnostic tool for acute medical admissions. Its relevance to in-hospital mortality and length of stay (LOS) has been examined at St James's Hospital in Dublin, Ireland. Methods All patients admitted for medical emergencies from 2010 through 2012 were studied (18,534 episodes); any relationship between an MRI request, underlying diagnosis on any in-hospital death, and LOS was examined. Logistic regression with generalized estimating equations, adjusted for correlated observations (readmissions), odds ratio estimates, and zero-truncated Poisson regression for LOS were used. Results MRI procedures were requested in 8.6% of episodes. The in-hospital mortality rate was significantly higher when MRI was performed (7.8% vs 4.6%, P < .001). The unadjusted odds ratio for in-hospital death during that episode was 1.74 (95% confidence interval, 1.26–2.37; P < .001) compared with episodes without MRI. The hospital stay for those MRI episodes was longer (median, 9.1 days; interquartile range, 4.0–26.8 days) than for non-MRI episodes (median, 5.8 days; interquartile range, 2.2–12.2; P